Sungsoo Song is a professor in the Department of Physics Education at Pusan National University and president of the Korean Association of Science and Technology Studies. His books include When Science and Technology Meet Culture (2009), In Search of Interfaces between Technoscience and Society (2011), and Great Figures in the History of Technology (2015) (all written in Korean).

This book was published as a part of the Science and Civilization in Korea series planned by the Korean Research Institute of Science, Technology, and Civilization at Chonbuk National University. As with other volumes in the series, this work presents substantial historical discussions on its topic. The topic examined by the author is science and technology research systems in South Korea since liberation from Japanese colonial rule. The author defines “research systems” as follows: they “mainly refer to research institutes, the spaces in which research and development activities are performed, and the institutions surrounding them, and can encompass the scientists and engineers who lead research within them and even the research accomplishments and culture created by these people” (24–25).

The questions that the author raises regarding research systems in South Korea are, “What historical trajectories have research systems in South...